Fall 2022 - CMNS 210 D100
Media History (3)
Class Number: 1255
Delivery Method: In Person
Overview
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Course Times + Location:
Sep 7 – Dec 6, 2022: Thu, 2:30–4:20 p.m.
Burnaby -
Exam Times + Location:
Dec 14, 2022
Wed, 12:00–12:00 p.m.
Burnaby
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Instructor:
Caitlin McKinney
cmckinne@sfu.ca
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Prerequisites:
Nine CMNS units with a minimum grade of C-.
Description
CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:
An assessment of the social implications of developments in information technology from prehistory to the middle of the 20th century. Topics include: the origins of symbolic representation; the oral tradition; the significance of different systems of writing and numeration; the consequences of print; and the initial changes brought about by electronic media.
COURSE DETAILS:
Our goal in this course is to develop a cultural framework for thinking about media historically, and for thinking about history through media. The course takes a focus on media in their moments of newness, when their meanings and uses are not yet fixed, and are up for negotiation, debate, and experimentation by the people and cultures who use them. We will begin by introducing the concepts of “mediation” and “technology” and then spend the rest of the course exploring these concepts through specific transformations—technologies such as the printing press, telegraph, and computing will be considered alongside less obvious forms such as electric light, surveillance technologies, and basic infrastructures like cables. We will situate media in specific geographies and communities of use, for example, by studying the role of print in settler colonialism in Canada, and by looking at undersea telecommunications cables in relation to globalization. Throughout the course, we will explore how media have been constitutive of hierarchies related to race, gender, ability, and other forms of social difference. By taking this perspective, we will be able to situate media technologies within larger social, political, and economic histories, and relations of power.
COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:
- Describe how changes in technological mediation have shaped human communication
- Develop an approach to understanding communication problems through a historical lens
- Practice doing historical research using secondary sources
Grading
- Paper Proposal 15%
- Paper 30%
- Mid-term Exam (Take Home, Open Book) 20%
- Final Exam (Take Home, Open Book) 20%
- Contributions to Canvas Discussions/Activities and/or Zoom Seminar 15%
Materials
MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:
Course readings will be made available as PDFs through the course CANVAS site.
REQUIRED READING:
Course readings will be made available as PDFs through the course CANVAS site.
REQUIRED READING NOTES:
Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.
Registrar Notes:
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS
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